Three Walnut Creek restaurants are among the seven in the East Bay suburbs to merit mention in the Michelin Guide's Bay Area and Wine Country guide.
Those restaurants are Prima, Va De Vi, and Walnut Creek Yacht Club, according to a Diablo magazine blog. The others in our suburban area are in Lafayette: Artisan Bistro, Chevalier, Kopitiam, and Metro Lafayette.
This is the first year that suburban restaurants, east of the Caldecott Tunnel, received a mention. The version last year included selections from Berkeley and Oakland, but ignored suburbia.
While restaurants around the world covet a Michelin mention, the choices it makes are often controversial. A December 2008 Diablo magazine story points out that when Michelin arrived in Northern California in 2006, "and handed out only a fistful of stars, the food world erupted in outrage. ... San Francisco Chronicle's powerful restaurant critic Michael Bauer was quoted as saying that 'the inspectors don't get the Bay Area food scene.' "
7 comments:
Nice! I think both Prima and the Yacht Club are underrated by people (and critics) who only want new and flashy.
A while back, I was at the Yacht Club with my 10 year old. The waiter treated him like a real person, discussing the source of the fish, wild vs farmed, etc. (My boy loves these topics...the waiter wasn't preaching or anything.) He even squatted down so he was speaking to my son eye-to-eye.
Not to trash a local restaurant, but how many times has the health department fined Va De Vi?
Anon 1:06 why don't you tell us? Here is what is on the health department website and I don't see anything other than a few minor violations
http://decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?agency=ccc&record_id=PR0019069
It only goes back two years, I hope they've cleaned up since then. They were shut down by the health department in the past few years. 2006/2005?
WCYC is great!
Prima is consistently good. Va de Vi has a nice outside area, but that's about it. Kopitiam in Lafayette stinks to high heaven when you walk through their front door -- I wonder who in the hell they paid off for their inclusion in Michelin.
Also, Soccer Mom, please post something about sickening the Richmond Homecoming gang rape. Those 15 onlooking boys who did nothing to help that poor girl must come to justice.
I've been to Kopitiam numerous times and it's been an positive experience every time, with consistently excellent food, thoughtful/attentive service, and the restaurant is clean (unlike the another commentor described). Think about it... this is a restaurant run by people from Singapore. Cleanliness is one of the key characteristics of that culture.
Frankly, I'm delighted Kopitiam was recommended by Michelin. It shows that a family owned and run business, where it's apparent that they care about their customers, and produce a great product can be noticed.
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